


Day Off

by orphan_account



Category: Sofia the First (Cartoon)
Genre: Cedric POV, Cedric gets a lazy day, F/M, Kinda, She’s like 15 in this, Sofia and Cedric are not together, This is a kinda lazy story tbh, he’s in denial, it’s shippy though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:20:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23629114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “No”, he moaned in realization. The click of heels against stone announced the death of his free day. “Mr. Cedric?”, she knocked.Sofia interrupts Cedric’s off-day. He doesn’t mind as much as he’d like to.
Relationships: Cedric the Sorcerer & Sofia the First, Cedric the Sorcerer/Sofia the First
Comments: 4
Kudos: 37





	Day Off

**Author's Note:**

> I was kinda(?) exploring their dynamic and easing myself into writing them. It was a little difficult just doing Cedric’s POV but you gotta start somewhere, I guess. I’ll probably write a more developed story soon.

The afternoon was a rare blessing. The quiet hum of movement outside the tower, the calming April breeze flowing through the windows, topped off with a plush chair and spellbooks to read through and organize, the day was looking pretty good. He wiggled against the chair and relaxed into it as he opened a heavy book.

Wait.

Footsteps. He paused and listened to the quiet tap of heels echoing through the empty stairwell. “No”, he moaned in realization. The click of heels against stone announced the death of his free day. “Mr. Cedric?”, she knocked.

“Go ahead” he sighed, wondering why he even bothered with the illusion he could deny her entrance. He turned his chair and regarded Sophia with an arched brow, “Yes, Sofia?” Her expression turns sheepish at his obvious displeasure, “ _Hey_ , Mr. Cedric. I know today is your day off-“ “Do you?”, he interrupted. “Yes”, she earnestly affirmed, and yet continued with, “I was wondering if I could keep you company, I promise I won’t talk.”

He eyed her pleading smile. Lately, Sofia seemed to have been spending more and more time in his workshop. She comes claiming to need assistance with schoolwork but she always ends up pulling him into a conversation without him even noticing. She seeks his attention at seemingly random intervals for miscellaneous reasons, most of them unimportant.

It wasn’t bad at first, it was nice to have company since Wormwood’s absence. However, the Princess has been behaving oddly recently. Besides being clingier with his time, she rarely meets his gaze anymore and has all-together stopped touching him. It hurt, if he was being honest with himself (he rarely is). She was always an unrelenting supporter and has come to be a dear friend. Unknowingly, she has become one of the most important people in his life. So yes, sometimes it did hurt that she tensed when he accidentally brushed her arm or touched her back while guiding her somewhere.

Yet even in her continuously skittish mood, she stood at the door asking to be let in, something he clinged to as consolation. Even with as often as she came, he couldn’t deny the twinge of joy at seeing her. However, he refused to let his day revolve around her. He planned for this day specifically because Sofia was supposed to be elsewhere.

“What happened to the play? Wasn’t the entirety of the royal family expected to attend?” She sighed, “Yeah, they left. I told mom I wasn’t feeling up to it.” His brows met in concern, “If you’re unwell, what are you doing here?” “I’m not”, she smiled at him, “I just wasn’t really in the mood to go out, you know?” Cedric did not know. Sofia was always eager to go on adventures and see the world. This was strange behavior on her part.“Okay?”, he pursed his lips, “I suppose you may stay, just be quiet. I need to reorganize these and want silence”, he said while picking up one the books on the table beside him.

She looked surprised but quickly gave him a blinding smile and sat in the chair opposite of him. “Thank you, Mr. Cedric!", she said while settling into her chair. “Would you like some help?” He considered it, she has been learning under him and from her academic schooling. “Well, alright. This should be simple enough.” He closed his book and stood, reaching towards the large pile and handed some to Sofia. “I need you to categorize these books in either mutation, emission, or reversion spells.”

“I can do that! It shouldn’t be that hard.” Cedric smiled at her and successfully held back from patting her head. He refused to make the girl uncomfortable. “Of course not. You’ve been my apprentice for around seven years now. I’d like to think myself at least good enough for you to know the difference between your Mutato’s and Reverso’s”, he teased with a smirk, already over his initial disgruntlement.

He turned to her, puzzled, at absence of her response and saw her _blushing_? He immediately worried. Was she lying about feeling fine? He leaned towards her while taking off his glove and pressed the back of his hand to her forehead. “Do you feel well?”, he asked in a concerned voice and frowned when her flush deepened. She inhaled sharply, “N-no, I feel completely fine, it must be the heat.” She gave him a nervous grin. Her uncharacteristic stutter drawing attention to her tense posture. Cedric’s eyes widened as he realized his mistake and quickly pulled away in chagrin. “Sorry, Princess”, he said suppressing a grimace. Stupid! She was already jumpy around him and what does he do? Invade her personal space, apparently.

“It’s fine!”, she says in a slightly higher pitch than usual. “I’m just a little warm is all! I promise I’ll tell you if I start feeling poorly.” He looked at her unconvinced. However, unwilling to insist further, he said, “If you’re sure.” He sat down and pursed his lips at the perfectly neutral room temperature.

“I’ll just… get to the books now”, she said a little awkwardly. He watched her stretch towards the pile. “Yes, that’s good”, Cedric replied a moment too late. He felt remorseful knowing he caused Sofia discomfort, especially when she had made it so clear she didn’t want any physical contact. Even so, she seemed perfectly happy touching everyone else. He doesn’t know what he did to make her so uneasy around him.

He’ll never understand teenagers, even if said teenager was Sofia, maybe especially if it was Sofia. She always did exceed his expectations. Feeling a tad dejected he sat back down and opened the first book from his pile and got to work.

Sofia kept her promise and silently read. As they went through the books and separated them into piles they relaxed into a rhythm. She occasionally asked him about the specifics of a spell but mostly the only sound was the flipping of pages. Sometimes, he could swear he felt her gaze on him but every time he looked, she was dutifully reading through the book. He dismissed the feeling in favor of enjoying the calm atmosphere.

After some time, when it got harder to tell the letters apart, he pointed his wand at the candle above his desk and muttered, “Parvus Ignis.” Satisfied with the light, he turned to Sofia, ready to send her off now that the sun was going down. Instead, he quieted as he noticed the girl was asleep with an open book on her lap. He must’ve been too focused to note that Sofia had stopped asking questions.

He rested his chin on his palm trying to decide if he should wake up the sleeping princess. His eyes rested upon her face, taking in her dark eyelashes against porcelain skin. They were so very different from her siblings’ golden ones, something to be expected, he supposed. Her small but pretty nose made her eyes appear wider by comparison. He studied the curve of her upper lip, smooth and uninterrupted by a Cupid’s bow. He wondered if her lower lip felt as plush as it looked. He gazed at her rounded lips, which were slightly parted in slumber, and froze.

_What was he doing?_

No. Just no. His lower lid twitched and he pointedly ignored his accelerated heart. He was not just staring at Sofia’s lips and he was definitely _not_ thinking about how they felt. One can admire beauty without being attracted to it. He was merely appreciating Sofia, she’s always been… pleasing on the eyes. Eager to finish that train of thought, he stood and went to Sofia.

He leaned towards her and softly said, “Sofia.” She didn’t move. “Sofia”, he said louder. She mumbled something indistinguishable yet didn’t stir. He paused, considering if he should just reach forward and wake her. It was rather early to be falling asleep. He suspected that the calm atmosphere coupled with her tiredness was too much to resist. Even if she expertly hid it, staying from the play betrayed how exhausted she must’ve been. He tried one more time, in a tender voice he’d later work hard to ignore.

“Sofia.”

She didn’t wake, in fact, she unexplainably seemed to be even more comfortable. His shoulders slumped, still, his eyes softened. He couldn’t bring himself to wake her up when she was already in so deep. He snorted, accepting defeat. Even asleep, his princess outsmarted him. What a warm thought. He smiled at her contented form.

Hm.

He stood there in silence for a moment and made up his mind. He took one good look at her to make sure she was still asleep, and reached out. He gently caressed the top of her head and relished the feeling of her hair. He stared, and from the depth of his chest, hopelessness enveloped him; he missed the casual touches from the girl. He left his hand there for a moment, then sighed and pulled away, unwilling to be even more of a creep.

He squandered the flutter of guilt in his stomach and picked up what was left of her pile. If he waited until last to take the book in her lap, he didn’t know why. He returned to his chair and gazed at the page where she left off. He took in the dark ink lettering against worn paper illuminated by candlelight, and leaned back.

“I guess I got a free day after all.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing for anything other than school, it probably shows. I’d be delighted to hear your input if you have any. Even if it’s just to correct my grammar :)


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